I also learned that when it comes to getting a broken lens filter off entrust it to someone who is either A) a professional or B) not emotionally attached to the lens but still values its importance.

I sat across the table from Cody as the most horrible noises known to my ears came from him breaking and prying off the filter. It’s a barbaric process no camera owner should have to witness but take heart that when it is all over your actual lens is still in one piece, unscratched and unscathed.

It took at least an hour for my pulse to slow down.

The guy at the camera store is not trying to steal your money when he suggests a lens filter (UV or skylight is all you need…nothing fancy.) Don’t make me send my mom after you, she’s the one who scolded told me about them in the first place. You can find some for $10 and some for $100. The size you need will be printed on the inside of your lens cap. The one above is a 77 mm.

But yes. Traveling in Europe when we lived there, hubs managed to rotate the polarizing filter all the way off and drop it over the fence into the Roman forum. Forgot to buy a new filter and then went to France. Toddler tossing pebbles in the square in front of Chartres cathedral chipped the lens. (Yes, he was ours, yes, he’s still alive.) It’s tiny, but it’s there.